“I May Still Have to Rely on Reckless Inaction”
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy instituted a shipping quarantine around Cuba in response to the Soviet build-up of nuclear missiles on that island. The Cuban Missile Crisis, as it came to be known, was a moment in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States when détente almost reached the breaking point. Rather than depict missiles pointed at the United States, Herblock shows his famous character, Mr. Atom, blaming the failure of the Geneva disarmament negotiations for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy instituted a shipping quarantine around Cuba in response to the Soviet build-up of nuclear missiles on that island. The Cuban Missile Crisis, as it came to be known, was a moment in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States when détente almost reached the breaking point. Rather than depict missiles pointed at the United States, Herblock shows his famous character, Mr. Atom, blaming the failure of the Geneva disarmament negotiations for the Cuban Missile Crisis.